


In Another Life

by PiperSong



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Allusions to domestic violence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Divorce, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-31
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-10 13:35:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5587933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PiperSong/pseuds/PiperSong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's New Year's Eve and the marriage of Stannis and Selyse Baratheon has like the rest of their relationship proceeded to the next logical step and come to an end.  It's quietly talked through unlike the mess that was Robert and Cersei's.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Another Life

They sit at the kitchen table together and discuss, if not calmly then certainly quietly, the end of their marriage. It’s New Year’s Eve and through strange silent agreement they both know that it’s an appropriate day to end things.  Shireen had gone to bed shortly after watching the children’s fireworks on tv, and then Selyse told him that they needed to talk, talk about them and the future.  It had been a long time coming and he was not surprised.  It’s different to how Robert’s marriage ended, with a final fight and years of rage and resentment all coming out, Stannis still remembers the frightened call from Myrcella at almost midnight.

 ‘You’re the only family he’d listen to. I’m scared, please, uncle Stannis, it’s _different_ this time.’  Of course he went, there was no question, he couldn’t let Robert do something he might not be able to come back from.  Both Cersei and Robert were roaring drunk when he arrived at their upper side of town McMansion, plates and wine bottles were smashed against the walls, red wine staining the expensive white rug and lovely white paint.

‘They’re not mine Stannis, all of them, whore!’ shouted Robert as soon as he’d noticed Stannis standing at the edge of the war zone. As he took another swig from the whisky in his hand Stannis saw the tears streaming down his face ‘You’re nothing more than a whore Cersei!’. It would’ve sounded more threatening if his voiced hadn’t’ve broken on her name.

‘That’s rich coming from you, you wouldn’t know fidelity if shat on your bed!’ replied Cersei along with a badly aimed glass, ‘And I don’t know why you called your brother, you don’t even like him!’

‘At least he’s my flesh and blood! My kin!’

It would’ve irked Stannis that Robert hadn’t even bothered to deny the accusation no matter how close to the truth it sometimes appeared. But he’d noticed the angry red mark on Cersei’s right cheek, it seemed that while Cersei had been throwing crockery, Robert had been throwing something worse. 

‘Enough! Both of you!’ thundered Stannis ‘you are scaring the children, enough that they called me’ he added more quietly.  It said something, Stannis would later reflect, that that was enough for both of them to stop and take a moment. 

It was just gone one when the unhappy couple were sitting in separate rooms at the opposite ends of the house, calmer but just as drunk and emotional. Tyrion and Jaime came to collect Cersei, she’d wanted to take Tommen and Myrcella with her, but after some discussion and a sharp word from Tyrion it was agreed that Stannis’ wife Selyse would take them back to theirs and take care of them for the next two nights until the lawyers could get involved.  It felt like a small mercy at the time that Joffrey was off on a school camp that week.  Stannis stayed with Robert that night and watched over him, he listened to the drunken slurs and ramblings for long enough to build a picture of what actually happened before forcing his brother into a cold shower and then bed.  He cleaned up the glass and rolled up the ruined rug, he made an attempt at the wine on the wall but it was clear that nothing short of a paint job would hide the marks.  He considered the alcohol, leaving it because it’s not his responsibility and pouring it all down the sink because he was sure it’s more than partly to blame for the mess that Robert’s life had become.  He compromised and loaded it into his car, the red wine Cersei’s and everything else Robert’s, it wasn’t gone, but at least it wasn’t there for Robert to drink when he woke up. 

He fell asleep that night watching over as his brother sobbed and thrashed in his sleep.

 

No, theirs was nothing like that. There was no scandal, no shouting, no fight or broken glass.  Like the rest of the marriage it was just sort of happened in that understated way that characterised both of them more than they’d care to admit. 

‘I’d met someone’ started Selyse as she explained why, ‘she made me see things differently, she…she…’ Selyse shook her head with a sad smile, ‘she helped me realise something I’d been denying myself for a long time’.

There were many reasons why Stannis would not have been surprised their marriage was ending, but this was not one of them, he feels worse for never having noticed, and maybe a bit used ‘I never realised, Selyse, that you felt that way, that this’ he motions between both of them ‘that this was never even what you wanted, that my _gender_ ’ he says the word almost with a sneer ‘would’ve changed things’.

She looks at him confused for more than a moment before breaking into a laugh that ended with tears ‘I didn’t mean like that Stannis, I’m not telling you I’m a lesbian’ she pauses as he blushes and tries unsuccessfully to smile at his mistake ‘she helped me realise how unhappy I am, how unhappy we both are.’

He grits his teeth and glares down at this hands before sighing and letting go of the tension, ‘We don’t fight, we hardly ever disagree and even when we do, it’s never in front of Shireen, we both love her, we’re not bad parents’ He’s not quite sure why he’s fighting this, even if it is so half heartedly.

‘We don’t share a room, we only really talk when it’s necessary, and of course we love Shireen, but we don’t love each other, we haven’t in a long time’ she smiles sadly, explaining to him what he already knows. ‘And yes we’re not bad parents, but we’re not happy, she shouldn’t have to grow up in such an unhappy household, we can do better than that’. 

She reaches for his hand and he lets her take it, it’s such a strange feeling this gesture of comfort and he’s not quite sure what to make of it. ‘We were young when we married’ he says looking at their hands, still young, so ridiculously young, both of them just past thirty ‘but it was right, we were happy’ he looks at her face, looking more uncertain in this moment than the whole time she’d known him ‘weren’t we?’

‘We were’ she smiles sadly but in memory of the love that couldn’t take the strain of so many trials and disappointments, the miscarriages and grief that they both carried but never shared. The illness that nearly killed their one living child and the undercurrent of blame, not for each other, but for the world that set up such a life for Shireen, that too weighed down their gentle love.  It was no single thing, but all of them together, it was too much, they had plans when they were younger, they didn’t now, ‘it didn’t last, there was too much’, she doesn’t quite mean to say it, but the words come out anyway.

He nods in understanding, ‘perhaps in another life’ he says with a strange kind of smile that Selyse doesn’t quite recognise. It’s a very un-Stannis thing to say, it’s unnecessary and means nothing in its ability to mean anything, it surprises her. 

And yet she appreciates it, because it’s almost hopeful and she wasn’t sure if they’d both lost that, it’s something she wants her daughter to have and understand, she gives his hand a small squeeze and agrees ‘perhaps in another life’.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Year!


End file.
